Cubism Vol. 75: More E3 Thoughts

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First-hand impressions of Iwata, Odama, and more

By Stephen Totilo

Since E3 is not yet a month old, no statue of limitations can keep me from providing you a little bit more E3 coverage. A little bit more? Try the biggest Cubism of all time! Believe it or not, but I think I might be able to tell you a few things about the big show and Nintendo that you haven't heard about yet. Can you handle the secret of the Odama ball? Do you want to know what's so impressive about Miyamoto's shoes? And would you like me to tell you the best thing about Advance Wars, which also happens to be the thing that I don't think anyone has written about? I've got all that and more for you this week.

In the previous Cubism I promised impressions of Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, Odama and Advance Wars. But before I get to those three games, I've got some other first-hand impressions to share with you: my meetings with Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata. I met each man individually and spent about an hour with each, not unfortunately because they're big fans of Cubism, but because, as regular readers of this column know, I was on assignment at E3 for The New York Times (If you can handle the free registration requirement, allow me to plug my latest piece). Early in E3 week I spoke to both Nintendo honchos about the DS. I enjoyed the added treat of a personal walk-through from Mr. Miyamoto of each of the DS tech demos. I thought you all would like to hear a little about what both of these top Nintendo figures are like.

First: Mr. Iwata. I interviewed him outside of E3, at a conference room in Los Angeles, so I didn't get to see him interact with any Nintendo merchandise. But what I did experience firsthand was Iwata's mantra, his unshakable belief that the technological war of horsepower will soon be irrelevant and that future video game hardware battles will be won or lost based on innovative game and hardware design. I know he's sometimes accused of being out of touch; it is true that some things he said -- like telling me that he did not think the DS was graphically inferior to any other handhelds at E3 -- can raise eyebrows. But he wins points for consistency, confidence and composure. He presents his philosophy that the horsepower race is over and that the innovation race has now begun not as a theory but as fact, and he does so not in an aggressive way that implies he has a theory he wants to convince you of. Rather, he calmly states his views as fact, the implication being that if you don't agree with him, that's okay, because eventually he's sure you'll see that he's right.

This game should make you feel good about the next Nintendo console.

I had met Mr. Iwata a day after I first saw and played the DS. I was already impressed with the power of Nintendo's new handheld and therefore aware that the Nintendo president's disinterest in cutting edge graphics didn't equate to a complete disavowal of any improvements in graphics whatsoever. The DS games had indeed looked better than expected; Metroid resembled its GameCube predecessor more than I would have thought possible. So it was interesting to listen to Mr. Iwata's thoughts without any anxiety that he was overseeing mistakenly under-powered software. The DS is definitely no PSP in terms of graphics, but the fact that it is so much more powerful than the GBA indicates that Iwata's innovation-first philosophy shouldn't worry people into thinking Nintendo's next-generation console won't exhibit a horsepower leap of its own.

It was interesting to speak with him. I wish I could have justified asking him some questions about Nintendo's home console strategy, but I couldn't. Hopefully next time.